Risk
Why Your Franchise Needs Risk Management Software
All McDonald's locations look and feel the same. All Starbucks feel like an extension of each other. Customers expect the same level of service in every Ace Hardware.
Every franchise site is expected to meet the standards of their corporate entity. This means branding, of course, but standardization also applies to the things customers don’t see: human resource decisions, policies, training, emergency planning and risk management.
Unfortunately, with more than 750,000 franchise establishments in the U.S. alone, standardizing every location can be challenging. Risk management software can help your site meet those expectations while keeping your employees and patrons safe.
The challenge of making your site feel like the rest of a franchise
Training personnel at a franchise can be tough. When you’re running a franchise you’re juggling a lot of projects — equipment breaks, new employees need to be hired, and supplies need to be ordered. Often you have to prioritize; policies and training tend to slip down your to-do list until there’s a crisis.
However, behind-the-scenes policies and procedures are key when it comes to maintaining a franchise’s quality. If you run a fast food franchise, for example, your customers expect that food to taste a certain way, but if your personnel aren’t properly trained, they won’t prepare food so that it tastes like the brand standard.
This goes for customer service as well. As a franchise owner, you want to make sure you’re hiring people with the same qualities: friendly, courteous, critical thinkers, intelligent, fun — whatever the brand’s standard is. You also want to be sure that those people respond to different risk scenarios in the same way: what happens if there’s a weather event, a robbery, or a slip and fall? What is the franchise’s policy? Competency in these sorts of situations is critical; the last thing you want is for your employees to panic and respond to a crisis on their own. And because turnover is high in franchises, it’s important to make sure training is offered continuously.
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How can risk management software help?
Franchises face a lot of challenges; many of them security-related. These include increased customer violence, crime, and everyday slips and falls at work. Risk management software is an obvious solution for those issues.
However, risk management software can also help with one of the biggest challenges faced by franchise locations: the need to make sure every location meets the corporate standard.
Risk management software can help keep those items top of mind by giving you the ability to assess, survey, and verify things are being done. Do you have your franchise’s required posters up? Are you training your staff as required? Are your employees competent in your policies?
Your risk analysis helps you understand how compliant with brand standards you are at each location, and shows you which sites need more attention.
Are you ready to talk to a professional about assessing your risk? Talk to us now about assessing your security.